New Installations

Jules is starting to roll around, which means it's only a matter of time before she starts crawling. Which, of course, means it's only a matter of time before she starts falling down our stairs when our backs are turned. Which is why we took the precaution of buying ourselves a baby gate from Ikea. Sure, we had to go all the way to Chicago just to go to Ikea, but we have friends up there so it wasn't a trip just to go to Ikea.

So I thought I had a good "before picture" of the top of our staircase, but it turns out, nope. But here's one with the baby gate.

Fancy

But we had a small problem with installing this baby gate:

Not cool, guys.

See, Amethyst's food and water are on the main floor, but her litter box is in the basement laundry room. So we had to come up with a plan; either we move the food and water, move the litter boxes, get rid of the cat, or develop a system whereby the cat alerts us to her need to use the restroom/eat and drink. Those were my ideas, anyway. Kathy is way more of a creative problem solver when it comes to home improvement projects. We discovered that if we put the stationary side's rubber pressure mounts on the smallest setting, that would leave enough room on the gate side for Amethyst to squeeze between the gate and the wall without being too big of a space for Jules to squeeze through. The only problem was that the pressure mounts on the gate side were not long enough for us to do that. So I once again started coming up with solutions involving the cat ringing a bell, once for up, twice for down, when Kathy (once again) was far more practical and smart.

Top

Not the Top

We had these blocks of wood which we attached to the wall and baseboard, which gave us enough space for Amethyst while still giving us a shorter reach for the pressure mounts.

She's not easy to get a picture of when she's moving that fast

So with a minimal amount of squeezing and dexterity, Amethyst can get through while Juliette stays safe.

Also, she's just going to lay there and guard it.

What's that? You want to see a picture of Juliette? What, you don't come here for pictures of the cat?

Ignore the fact that this was taken before the baby gate was installed.

A Nice Warm Day

We had the windows open today.

Kathy was clearly in Amethyst's spot.

News Flash

Today, Juliette rolled over.

Kathy will try to get video of her tomorrow, so you can all see.

For now, this picture of her in a Gateway Grizzlies Onesie she got as a present from my co-workers.

Oh yeah, I'm totally all about rolling over now.

Valentine's Day...A Little Late

I had a very very very long day today. I knew it was going to be a long day, with a departure time of about 3:45am for me (for work), so Juliette and I hatched part of our Valentine's Day plan on Saturday Morning. Then again on Sunday Morning.

This happened two mornings in a row

Mom was surprised and very happy.

We spent most of the day Sunday out and about. Even though there was still a ton of snow on the ground, the quick rise in temperatures meant we could be out without jackets!

We're not neglectful, the snow is misleading; it really was about 60 degrees

But today, I had to get out of the house long before Jules was up, and didn't get home until just about bedtime. In fact, Kathy cheated a little and kept Juliette up so that I could read her a story or two before she went to sleep.

But the best part about coming home was my Valentine's Day present was waiting for me on the table:

It says "Thank You Thank You Daddy Love Jules Kathy & [Amethyst]" Amethyst didn't actually put her paw print in icing on the cookie, I am told.

So, though I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with my family on Valentine's Day, it was still a pretty good day. Kathy's getting the remainder of her present on Saturday (it was supposed to be this past Saturday, but she had a lot of work that had to be done before today, so I postponed it for a week) so I'll let you all know how that goes.

Valentine's Day 2011

A New Friend...on the Horizon

As I mentioned before, I once lived in Minneapolis, where I attended the University of Minnesota and met Kathy. What I haven't mentioned is that I met other people, too, many of whom I keep in touch with through the internets. It just so happens that several weeks ago, I got a message from one of these friends letting me know that she was pregnant! This is exciting, because of the group of friends I belonged to up in Minneapolis, Kathy and I were the only couple with a kid. But now, we've got company in the form of Emily and Ryan!

So I waited a few weeks to say anything on here, because Emily and Ryan hadn't yet taken the information public. But now that they have, I can happily shout it from some place very high.

Juliette can't wait to meet the little Minnesotan!

Check out their blog here.

A Message from the Editor In Chief

I assure you, Elliot will be blogging more regularly. He is under my direct supervision at all times.

Being an editor is so much fun! Now BACK TO WORK, DADDY!

Conditions Were A Little Windy

This past weekend we took our second road trip...to Chicago!

We went to visit our friends Heather and Drew*, who live in a totally swank Loft Condo with which I fall in love every time we visit. I think Juliette liked it, too.

High Ceilings, view of downtown, within walking distance of two grocery stores and a hardware store!

We took a trip to the Shedd Aquarium.

She wanted to look at the fish, which were amazing.

She's so happy to not be looking at fish. Woo hoo.

I want to touch it, but it looks as big as me...

She eventually got a little tuckered out and had to take a nap. But we wanted to keep going.

I guess my gentle walking kept her happily asleep for forty-five minutes.

We saw some amazing things while she was out...

Drew had to keep telling me that the Dolphins were not playing in the Super Bowl.

Jules fell asleep watching minnows and woke up to a Beluga. Her reaction? "Whoa...that thing got big while I was out..."

After the aquarium, we took a longer nap back at the loft, then went out to dinner. Jules slept through dinner. At a crowded pizza place. Girl sleeps like a champ.

Juliette got a great gift: a big hardcover edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It came with something awesome!

Jules loved the caterpillar almost as much as she loved Heather

Kathy found a great use for the caterpillar on the way home.

A Very Comfy Neck Pillow

Juliette had a great time hanging out with Heather and Drew.

Juliette may look like she's asleep, but that's only because she is asleep.

She didn't want to leave.

What? Just run home, get my bouncy seat, high chair, clothes and kitty and we can stay here, it'll be fun!

But then we showed her what winter in Chicago can be like.

That's...that's a lot of snow, guys. Maybe it's okay if we go back home.

*Drew's real name is Jules. Now, how could we ignore that? We totally turned it into a photo op.

Jules and Jules hang out at the Aquarium.

Thanks, Heather and Drew, for a good time!

Snow Daze

In case you haven't heard yet, the Midwest is currently undergoing SNOWTORIOUS B.I.G. and will likely be shut down forever due to the mass amounts of ice, snow, and Global Weirding.

Actually, at our house, things aren't too bad. But things all around us are bad enough that I've had not one but TWO snow days this week. And I'm not even a student or a teacher!

Basically, we've spent the last two days cuddling up and playing, watching Disney movies and doing a little bit of working from home. But tomorrow, it looks like it's back to the daily grind. But only for two days, and then, two more days off! Jules is excited about that, let me tell you!

Snow Days are Awesome Daddy! You get to stay home and I get lots of extra attention!

My car got scraped off for a grocery run today. It's mostly ice.

The view out the back door.

Even Amethyst is relaxing and staying warm